Kale, Mushroom, Goat Cheese Omelet

It must be less- than- half -hour dish preparation week around here for although Brunch and Breakfast have been trending these days inspiring me to a Kale, Mushroom, Goat Cheese Omelet, I ultimately got caught up last weekend with the Cook the Book Fridays, Sardine Rillettes preparation from the David Lebovitz, My Paris Kitchen cookbook. As it turned out, the Sardine Rillettes turned out to be every baguette slather worth the bite, and indeed may even have served well as a lovely prelude or side to the fall veg omelet. Both combined, less than one hour. Next time.

Three pretty speckled organics for today’s triple play. Sometimes I can’t help but think to myself what a miracle food eggs are and feel so entirely grateful about it. I mean eggs truly serve so many uses for our sustenance, fluffy omelets, frittatas, quiche, assorted baked goods, soups, salads, scrambled up, poached or fried, even a plain old hard boiled egg of which I admittedly eat cracked right at the sink, sprinkling all about what I would in any other circumstance, sans French fries, normally consider as an inordinate amount of salt.

Good omelets require creaminess, heavy cream is my favorite, but today whisked up is half and half along with a generous pinch of salt and pepper, and a wee pinch of magic spice: ground nutmeg, before sprinkling in green speckles of chopped parsley. Whisking chopped parsley into the batter is a little trick I learned at a restaurant many years ago that sure does make an omelet look pretty. In this case I saved half of the chopped parsley to sprinkle over the plate for a nice colorful photo, but either way makes for an appetizing, colorful dish set upon your table, hence yet another reason to be grateful for the egg.

I’ve recently been working with a local food business in my area on some menu development, updating classics, new recipe selections and such, anyway at last weeks meeting we got to talking about massaging kale. Really. There is such a thing. Stripping the leaves from the stem and once cut into smaller bits you literally massage the greens for just a couple moments (its not a body massage after all) and the process breaks down the fibers a bit making this sturdy fresh green more palatable for eating. Live and Learn. For this omelet you can just pull the leaves from the stems and drop them into some boiling salted water for a couple of minutes before draining, squeezing dry, and chopping readied for use whenever you are ready for omelet making time.

Mushrooms. I just love the earthy, nutty flavor of mushrooms when sear cooked. Mushrooms are one of those vegetables that prevent me from tossing away the nonstick teflon pan because they make the searing of mushrooms so darn easy, provided that is, that you don’t overcrowd the pan, or, over grease. Bringing the pan up to hot temperature along with maybe a tablespoon of butter prevents the butter from burning and once you toss in the mushrooms they will near immediately absorb the butter and begin their searing process.

Cooking mushrooms also reminds me of a fairly common saying among varying grill masters, something like ‘if your looking, you ain’t cooking’ in this case meaning let those mushrooms sear a bit before shaking the pan and turning over, you can at early juncture however, sprinkle on a nice pinch of coarse kosher salt all about and this will do something magical like sealing in the flavor and really bringing out the taste. I know this for despite my cooking instruction on mushrooms I still manage to snatch a couple out of the pan at the near finish, hey, taste testing is important in cooking, especially if it is something you really like.

Contrary to what many people believe, not all restaurants prepare their omelets brunch style flipping them in the air turning them over like pizza dough readying for a hot oven. In the case of the easy omelet, first off, preheat your broiler. You merely need to pour some melted butter (clarified is best) or some oil, enough to completely coat the bottom, into a very hot omelet pan. With a nice little spatula, from the very moment you ladle the egg mixture into the pan, you take your spatula and stir and stir all around to cook up the egg patting the top all about making sure the egg mixture is positioned to fully cover the circle of the pan, otherwise your omelet would have a big hole when you turn it out. Once the egg is almost cooked immediately set your fillings onto the center- cheese on top- and place under the broiler for mere seconds just to soften or melt your cheese. For the big finish, again use your spatula to loosen all around the edges of the pan then flip your omelet with the ends turned under guiding it underneath while placing onto your plate. And there you have it, Kale, Mushroom, Goat Cheese Omelet, bistro style.

3 tablespoons melted butter, clarified butter, or oil, approximately more or less

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/8 cup half and half

pinch coarse kosher salt

couple grinds cracked black pepper

pinch ground nutmeg

1 1/2 -2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

5 kale leaves, thick center stems removed

1 tablespoon butter

6-8 crimini mushrooms

3 tablespoons goat cheese, crumbled, approximately more or less

Instructions

Pull kale leaves from ribs, drop into a small pot of boiling salted water, cook 2 minutes, drain, chop, set aside. Heat medium sized non stick pan on medium- high heat with a tablespoon or so of butter, swirl butter around to cover bottom of pan, toss mushrooms evenly across and let mushrooms sear for a little over a minute before shaking pan, sprinkle over a pinch of salt, and continue to cook mushrooms until golden browned, remove mushrooms from pan, set aside. Preheat broiler. Whisk eggs until beaten then whisk in half and half, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and parsley. Heat a small omelet pan to hot before adding in the butter or oil, pour egg mixture into omelet pan, using a plastic spatula, immediately begin stirring the egg all around making sure to pat down the mixture so the egg completely covers the circumference of the pan, a minute or so, turn off burner and immediately top the center of the omelet with the kale, mushrooms, and goat cheese crumbles, place pan into broiler until cheese is softened, less than a minute. Remove pan from oven use your spatula to loosen all around the edges of the pan then flip your omelet with the ends turned under guiding it underneath while placing onto your plate.

6 Comments

Hi Peggy, omelets are one of favorite foods, regardless of the time of day. Wonderful combination. Love that you made this bistro style, I am going to try this technique. Take care!!!cheri recently posted…Salmon Chowder and My First Day Back

Hi Cheri, Thanks much, I hope you give the technique a try, its quite quick and easy so you’ll master it right away. Omelets are really coming into my radar these days…for more frequent preparations as an any time of the day meal. Happy you got back to Arizona smoothly and with a happy arrival day. Talk to you soon.

Omelets are always on standby in our house. Eggs are always on hand and can always find their way into a quick and easy dinner, or lunch, or breakfast. The flavor combination on this looks delicious. Thanks for the tutorial on technique. I will give this a try. Hugs…Kelly recently posted…Global Entry: What You Need to Know

Hi Kelly, thanks much, I’ve never made eggs much for dinner only because I often made (make) eggs for the kids, but I think I will now a bot more often, and of course, there are always the additional favorites, frittata, quiche, etc… Hope all is going well in your newest endeavor and the transitioning. Big Hugs.

Delicious! I have very bad luck with egg dishes. Anything beyond scrambled is usually a disaster. I followed this recipe exactly (except subbing dill for parsley). It came out perfectly. Fluffy, but not dry, and great flavor. Thank you!